Mahanadi issue: Cong team to meet President tomorrow

Bhubaneswar: With no resolution to the Mahanadi water dispute in sight, the ball has now been thrown into President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s court. While the ruling BJD has sought the intervention of the Prime Minister, the Congress led by Opposition leader Narsingh Mishra will meet the President of India tomorrow to help resolve the contentious Mahanadi water sharing issue between Odisha and Chhattisgarh governments.

The party will urge the president to intervene and stop the projects which are being undertaken by the Chhattisgarh government illegally threatening the Mahanadi river, sources said.

“As decided, the Congress legislature party will meet the President at Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi tomorrow and request him to preserve the Mahanadi river and protect the interests of the people of Odisha,”

Meanwhile, senior BJP leader Bijay Mohapatra alleged that the Odisha government is not keen on finding a solution to the problem.

“There are two ways – either the government should take the matter to court or approach the Prime Minister. However, the State government has failed to do both. Currently, the stance of the government is not clear on what it wants to do in order to resolve the issue,” Mohapatra said.

Meanwhile, the ruling BJD has said it will continue its awareness drive against the project undertaken by the Chhattisgarh government while it is reviewing the administrative and legal course of action.

“Our protests against the projects will continue and we are currently examining various administrative and legal ways to tackle the issue,” said BJD spokesperson Amar Prasad Satpathy.